


First Impressions Are Important

by Heidzzz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, I am Supercorp Trash, Kara Danvers Without Superpowers, Lesbian Lena Luthor, POV Alternating, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-01-07 11:23:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18409631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heidzzz/pseuds/Heidzzz
Summary: Soulmate AU"When her soulmate mark appeared at 12 years old she was mortified to see the words "Well fuck me right" scribbled on her wrist."





	1. Not Exactly a Meet Cute

**Author's Note:**

> You guys can find me on Twitter @sqevilpanda

“Thump”

Lena sets her laundry basket down and takes in a deep breath. She exhales roughly, blowing her long black hair out of her face. Looking around the almost empty laundromat, she notices people mostly minding their own business. There’s an older woman folding her clothes, a middle aged man in overalls getting pouring detergent into a top loading washer, and a blonde woman about Lena’s age who is just staring at the change machine. The staring match ends when the woman slaps the machine and groans.

The blonde woman sighs and runs her hand through her long wavy hair and looks up and catches Lena’s gaze.

“Well fuck me right?” she said to Lena with a half smile.

Lena’s eyes widen and her hand goes up to her mouth in surprise. She turns on heel and rushes out of the laundromat and out onto the sidewalk. 

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. It’s her. That’s my soulmate. Oh god, and I just ran like a bloody coward. 

When her soulmate mark appeared at 12 years old she was mortified to see the words “well fuck me right” scribbled on her wrist. She hid it from her mother for weeks until Lex, her brother saw it one day and told their mother at dinner. 

“Lena’s soulmate mark came in,” he announced while cutting his steak.

“Oh that’s wonderful! What does it say?” Lillian said smiling.

Lena’s eyes had shot up, she was looking at Lex with an expression riddled with betrayal. 

“He’s lying,” Lena’s voice broke. “It was just pen ink.” She pulled uselessly at her sleeve to try to cover her mark up more. 

Lillian’s eyebrows furrowed, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“Lena, pull up your sleeve and let me see.”

Lena hesitated but knew better than to disobey her mother. Her mother was looking at her expectantly as she slowly pulled her sleeve back to reveal the awful words. Lillian let out a small gasp. She stood and grabbed Lena by her arm, pulling her to the bathroom. She yanked Lena’s arm underneath the faucet and started to scrub at the words.

“This must be a mistake. You’re a Luthor, who would speak to you this way?! Your soulmate? You’re matched with someone at such a low station they would utter words such as this?” 

Lena felt tears burning in her eyes. She was humiliated. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t ask for this. Why couldn’t her mark say anything else. This vulgarity was on her body for life. 

Lillian first blamed Lena for her mark. Then she tried every way to have it removed, went to dozens of tattoo artists and makeup artists to find the best way to conceal. A Luthor could never have such words attached to them. Lena hated the words from then on. Therefore Lena hated her soulmate for putting her in this situation in the first place.

 

Lena was still trying to control her breathing outside of the laundromat. She had dreamt of this moment, when she could exact her revenge on her careless, foolish soulmate. But she had panicked. A few moments later the door of the laundromat opened with the tinkling of a bell. Lena stayed frozen against the wall and refused to look up. 

“Hey, uh, are you- are you alright?”

It was the blonde woman again. Her soulmate had followed her outside.

“Look I’m sorry for hitting the machine, I’ve just been having a trying day and of course it just took my last $5 and my work clothes are soaked..”

“It’s perfectly fine, I’m fine. You just reminded me of something,” Lena interrupted the blonde’s rambling. She gathered herself, and looked up to see ocean blue eyes staring back at her.

“Oh, well good. I’m Kara, by the way. Kara Danvers.” Kara held out her hand. Lena looked at it warily before reacting out of habit. 

“Lena,” she replied as they shook hands. She left out her last name on purpose, the Luthor family was well known in National City since Lex’s arrest a few months prior. Lena eyes Kara curiously. Did Kara realize they were soulmates? Lena tried to remember the first thing she had said to Kara. It’s perfectly fine, I’m fine. Lean bit her cheek to stop the scoff from coming out. “It’s fine” was much better than the atrocity that was on Lena’s arm.

Lena’s eyes drifted down towards Kara’s wrists, but they were covered by the sleeves of the button up shirt Kara was wearing. 

“Nice to meet you,” Kara said brightly flashing Lena an admittedly adorable smile. “I’m gonna go grab some quarters from the bank” she said gesturing across the street. “Need any?”

“No, thank you.” Lena just wanted to go back home and forget that she had met her soulmate (or “the life ruiner” as she had so kindly named Kara in her head).

“Alright, well see ya!” Kara smiles again before walking towards the crosswalk. 

Lena walked back inside the laundromat, grabbed her laundry basket and hurriedly brought it back outside to her car.


	2. Deception or Just Plain Confused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like Mon-El, I’d stop reading.
> 
> Also this is unedited. Sorry.

 

 

Kara dragged her laundry basket up the third flight of stairs. _Of course_ the elevator was out of order today.

 

Not a single thing had gone her way in the last 24 hours. First, she realized she had set her alarm for 8pm instead of 8am, causing her to oversleep and was late for her staff meeting. Then all of her button ups had some substance splashed all over them. She had an interview with the CEO of Luthor Corp that evening and needed to look a bit more professional. So after her meeting she took her clothes to the laundromat. And then the stupid change machine took the only cash she had on her. When the frustration got the best of her, she scared that beautiful woman. Kara Danvers was having a _bad_ day.

 

Kara pushed open her apartment door, breathing a little heavier than normal from exertion, to see Mike slumped on her couch, empty Chinese containers tossed haphazardly across the coffee table.

 

“Hey babe!” Mike greeted his girlfriend. “I saved you a potsticker.” He held out chopsticks with the last potsticker towards her.

 

Kara inhaled deeply. “Mike, those weren’t for you. That was my dinner.” He shot a sheepish grin at her.

 

“Aw damn, I’m sorry babe.” And that was it. Mike went back to his video game without another word.

 

Kara sighed heavily and brought her laundry basket into her room. She closed her door behind her, and rested her forehead on the door in defeat. For someone that was her “soulmate”, Mike was not what she had daydreamed when she was a child.

 

She knew that being bound to someone wasn’t always going to be easy, but did it really have to be this hard all the time? Mike and her personalities clashed hard. He was lazy, entitled, and had absolutely no ambition. Kara worked hard every single day to better herself. She never had things handed to her, put herself through college, and worked her ass off to have her job at CatCo. Mike was a trust fund man baby that had never worked a day in his life.

 

The day she met Mike, he was walking ahead of her on the sidewalk. He hadn’t been paying attention to the red hand flashing in warning for him not to cross the street. A car came inches from completely flattening him when Kara screamed “Watch out!” Kara had saved his life that day. She used to think he saved hers, when she asked if he was okay and he responded with “I’m fine, I’m perfectly fine.” Kara’s eyes had shot down to his arm where the words “WATCH OUT” was scribbled on his forearm and then to her own where “It’s perfectly fine, I’m fine” was in a neat script atop her wrist.

 

They started dating shortly after that. Kara couldn’t believe she had found her soulmate. Now she couldn’t believe that the universe would give her Mike as a soulmate.

 

Kara pushed up from the door and started folding her clothes. Since her dinner had been ruined, she was just going to meet Lillian Luthor on an empty stomach and grab something quick afterwards. She dressed in a navy and white polka dot button up and light khaki slacks. She braided her hair back, grabbed her messenger bag and walked out of her room. Mike hadn’t moved from the couch and didn’t even respond when she said goodbye.

 

Walking up to the Luthor Corp building, her nerves started to build. The Luthor family was intimidating at best and Lillian was possibly the scariest of them all. After Lex Luthor’s domestic terrorist attack and subsequent arrest, Lillian had taken over as Luthor Corp’s CEO. Stocks and faith in the company had plummeted following Lex’s arrest. Lillian had managed to get the company back above water, if only slightly. Kara’s interview was all questions about what direction Lillian wanted to take the company in now that they were no longer in the red.

 

Walking up to the reception desk, a mousy woman explained to Kara that before her meeting she had to go through a security check. The security check was just as thorough as TSA and Kara was having a hard time finding her bearings after entering the elevator finally.

 

The entire top floor of Luthor Corp was Lillian’s office. It was surrounded by plated glass and looked over National City. Sunset was nearing and the view was awe inspiring. Kara pushed up her glasses and looked at the older blonde sitting regally at the sleek desk in the middle of the massive room.

 

“Erm, hi! I’m Kara Danvers. I’m a reporter for CatCo media. I’m here to ask a few questions about what direction Luther Corp will be heading.”

 

Lillian rose to her feet and walked around the desk. Her spine was ramrod straight, her chin was lifted in a manner that made Kara immediately realize this was not a kind person and this would not be an easy interview.

 

“Hello Miss Danvers. How is Cat these days? Still making grown men cry?”

 

A small chuckle bubbled up from Kara’s mouth at the question. “She actually took a leave of absence. She’s traveling. James Olsen has been heading CatCo for a few weeks now.” Kara replied while fiddling with the side of her glasses.

 

“Hmm, must be nice. I must inform you that this interview has to be quick, as I have a video chat with Wayne Enterprises shortly.”

 

“Of course, lets just get to it then.” Kara pulls a recorder and her notepad from her messenger bag and sat down in a chair across from Lillian. “I just have a couple questions. There are rumors that Luthor Corp is looking to funnel more money into military technology and arming our troops with biological weapons. Is there any truth in those rumors?”

 

“Miss Danvers, you should know better than to put stock in such destructive rumors.” Lillian sniffed looking coldly down her nose at Kara. “Protecting this country is immensely important, especially with the state of today’s world. However, you and I both know biological warfare is prohibited by the U.N. and I would never have my employees work on illegal projects such as that. Furthermore all ongoing projects in relation to our military are strictly monitored by the appropriate departments to ensure we are doing everything by the book.”

 

“So Luther Corp is testing new technology for the military?”

 

“Yes, the safety and protection of our country is currently our number one priority.”

 

“Are there any reparations being made for the families of the victims that were killed or injured at the bombing of National City’s Municipal Building?” As soon as the words were out of Kara’s mouth, Lillian tensed up more than Kara thought possible.

 

“My son’s actions were unexplainably atrocious. We would never begin to justify his actions. There has been a fund set up for the victim’s families. With that being said, this interview is over Miss Danvers. Please see your way out.”

 

Kara’s eyebrows climbed up near her hairline as she put her notepad and recorder back in her bag.

 

“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Luthor.”

 

Kara was in the elevator, and completely ready to get out of the immaculate building, stop by her favorite food truck, go home and put an end to this exhausting day. The elevator doors opened and she was just short of sprinting out. Right outside of the doors she ran smack into somebody and knocked them over.

 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, here let me help you. God I’m such an idiot, I wasn’t paying any attention. Are you okay?” Kara started rambling while holding out her hands to help the woman she knocked over up. When the woman looked up Kara gasped. “Hey! It’s you! Oh man. I’m so sorry. Lena right?”

 

Lena is being pulled to her feet when she looks up at deep ocean eyes, and gets the air knocked out of her all over again.

 

“Oh hello again,” Lena mumbles once she gathers her bearings. “You’re fine, I wasn’t looking where I was going either.”

 

“Not gonna run off this time?” Kara joked with a lopsided smile.

 

Lena glanced down at Kara’s wrist and her eyes zeroed in on the soulmate mark. It was her. She was positive this time. “No I wasn’t planning on it.”

 


	3. Starstruck Tacos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. So I’m going to try to update twice a week, however if that doesn’t happen it will be at least once a week. Also, this is unedited and if anyone is interested in editing for me please PM me.  
> Thanks!
> 
> Also, I do not own any of this except the plot. Characters are not my own. Don’t sue me.

It is known that talking about or asking about soulmate marks is pretty taboo. It was like this for a couple different reasons. Some people never find their soulmate. Others do not want the universe to have say in their love lives. They typically ended up married to someone without the matching mark. Marks typically appeared around the beginning of puberty, however some never appeared. No one knew why some people were never bound to another. So asking about someone's mark or lack of a mark was considered extremely rude. Lena took this into account while she _stared_ at Kara's mark.

Kara was gathering the papers she had knocked out of Lena's hands. She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"This is the second time in a day that I've run into you, sorry I did it so literally the second time." Kara apologized.

"The universe is telling us something I'm sure." Lena replied nonchalantly, taking her files from Kara.

"Do you work here?" Kara asked, her grin brightening when she realized Lena wasn't upset with her.

"Yes, I head the Bio-Med department. Do you work here also?"

"No, I'm a reporter for CatCo Media. I had an interview with Lillian Luthor." Kara missed the way Lena's face darkened at the CEO's name.

"Oh, that must've been... pleasant."

"I guess that's one way of putting it. Mildly terrifying is another. I'm ready to get out of here and hit up the taco truck at the end of Cordova St. They have the most amazing tacos, you really can't beat food truck tacos." Kara started gesturing with her hands wildly as she got excited. "Hey would you want to try it with me? My treat as an apology."

"I could eat. Let me just put these in my office" Lena said while holding up the paper files in her hands.

Lena didn't normally get dinner with strangers but she needed to learn more about this beautiful blonde with her soulmate mark written on her wrist. She wondered why there wasn't a recognition this afternoon at the laundromat.

Lena had been waiting basically her whole life to hear someone say what was written on her. Was Kara one of the people that didn't put any stock in soulmate marks? Did she not hear her properly? Was she straight? Even though Lena's mark was an embarrassment to her, the universe bound them together for a reason. Lena definitely wasn't one of the people that thought marks were ever mistaken. Now she just had to ask Kara about her mark without offending her.

"-and then Miss Grant called him her little computer elf!" Kara was telling Lena all about her work with CatCo, her best friend Winn, and her boss Cat Grant. Lena genuinely hadn't laughed so much than in the last 30 minutes of spending time with the personification of sunshine sitting next to her on the park bench. Kara's bright smile, funny anecdotes, and all around wonderful aura was brightening Lena's own.

"So what's working for Luthor Corp like?" Kara asked before shoving an entire taco into her mouth.

"Well I'm doing what I love, but working with family is always a bit burdensome."

Kara sputtered a bit. "Family? Who in your family works with you?"

"Lillian Luthor is my adoptive mother."

Kara's eyes grew three times their natural size. "You're Lena Luthor?" Lena nodded and let out a small sigh, preparing herself for: at best, a lousy excuse for Kara to escape, and at worst, Kara cursing her out on this bench.

"Oh my god. That's so- Lena closes her eyes- incredible. Lena's eyes shot open. "The article about you in Medgadget was incredible. I can't believe I'm eating dinner with the inventor of BioMax. You've changed so many lives! And you have single-handedly saved people's quality of lives, if not their whole lives with BioMax."

"You- you've heard of me?" Lena stuttered. She tried wrapping her head around someone actually knowing who she was besides just as a Luthor.

"Yes! Your work is amazing. I wanted to do a piece on you but my story got denied." Kara responded. Lena sat there for a beat, struggling to understand the woman next to her. She couldn't believe she actually made an impression on someone besides being the sister of a terrorist.

"Thank you. If you ever get that story approved, you can get your interview anytime." Lena said as her cheeks reddened. Kara was looking at her with stars in her eyes and it was hard to fight down the bashfulness she was feeling.

"Wow." Kara breathed. "Not just gorgeous, but also absolutely brilliant." Lena flushed. Her pale complexion was a deep red when she looked up at Kara.

"Thank you. This has been wonderful. You weren't lying when you said that these tacos are amazing. I unfortunately have to go home though, early start."

"No I understand. Mike's probably wondering where I'm at."

Lena paused for a moment wondering if she'd be crossing a boundary by asking. She decides she isn't since she has shared more than she normally would with anyone else to Kara.

"Mike? Is that your boyfriend? Husband?"

"Boyfriend. We've been together a year." Kara runs her hand over her mark and Lena shoots down a glance to follow her movement.

_Boyfriend. Fuck._

"Oh! Well alright. I'll get going. This was nice, let's hang out again soon." Lena tried to play off her disappointment.

"Yeah, absolutely!" Kara holds out her hand. "Here let me give you my number so we can grab lunch or maybe I'll get Miss Grant to agree to my story." Lena hands over her phone and Kara dials in her number and types in Kara Danvers with a yellow heart emoji. Lena looks down and smiles. A yellow heart is a perfect description of this sunny woman.

"Goodnight, Lena." Kara said softly as she pulled Lena into an unexpected, yet welcomed hug. "It was great to meet you."

Lena spent the entire drive home thinking only of Kara. Why did she have a boyfriend if she had a soulmate mark? Why didn't she know that they were bound to each other? What did this "Mike" man actually mean to her? She pulled into the garage of her apartment complex and let out a groan when she parked and shut her car off. She was glad she got her number, if nothing else. She was going to figure this out. She was going to figure Kara Danvers out.


	4. Bye Bye Manhell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!
> 
> I do not own these characters, I just wanted to play with them for a bit.

Kara took the long way back to her apartment.She didn’t want anything to spoil the mood she was in. She hadn’t stopped thinking about her evening with Lena Luthor. The woman was incredible. Not only was she a genius, she had seemed incredibly kind and genuine. And then the fact that her smile was definitely the Eighth Wonder of the world. It was the type of smile that was hesitant at first, a bit subdued, but then broke out to this huge grin that could make the coldest hearts thaw. 

 

Kara sighed happily as she threw her car in park and opened up her phone. She really hoped Lena would actually text her so they could hang out again. This could definitely be the beginning of an amazing friendship. She looked Lena up on Twitter and hit the follow button instantly. She was scrolling through Lena’s page (which was just retweeted articles on quantum entanglement and polyatomic anions) that she almost didn’t notice that there was a woman’s voice coming from inside her apartment. She stood on the other side of her door, listening. 

 

“Michael, we’re  soulmates.  You can’t keep dragging that girl along. Why haven’t you said anything to her about finding me?”

 

That’s when Kara heard Mike. 

 

“I don’t know, Imra. Me and Kara have something good right now. It’s easy. She  loves  me so much. It’s kind of sad really...” Mike trailed off. 

 

Kara stood stock still at the door. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This woman, this  Imra , thought she was Mike’s soulmate? 

 

“But you told me she has a mark? Is she just one of those people that doesn’t believe in soulmate marks?”

 

“I think- well I think she thinks  I’m  her soulmate. We’ve never talked about it. I mean her first words to me was also “watch out”. But do you know how many times someone has said that to me?”

 

“So you’re just letting her believe you are soulmates, for what? Because it’s easy? Christ. That’s fucked up even for you. You need to tell her.” Kara could hear anger in Imra’s voice. “I can’t keep doing this. We are soulmates but you’re making me feel nothing more than a glorified side-chick!” 

 

“Imra, wait! Stop! Okay, I’ll tell her, just wait a sec-“. The door flew open as a beautiful brunette woman went to rush out of the apartment only to freeze in the doorway and stare at Kara. Kara was standing two feet away, eyes widened and mouth agape. Mike appeared behind Imra. 

 

“Kara! You’re back early. How was dinner?” Mike tried to subtly nudge Imra into moving out of the doorway. 

 

Kara stood there, silent, for a few moments before everything caught up to her. 

 

“Get out,” Kara breathed. No one moved. Mike’s eyebrows rose.

 

“W-what?” 

 

Kara inhaled deeply. “I said, get the hell out. Now.”

 

“Kara, what do you think you heard?” Mike asked. Kara let out an unamused laugh.

 

“Oh man.” She laughed again, sounding a bit more hysterical. “Oh for Christ’s sake. I’m an  idiot.  I have spent the entire last year trying to make this relationship work with you because I thought we were soulmates. I thought it was supposed to be like this. I thought  you  were the soulmate the universe thought I deserved. Well, jokes on me.” Kara was full on laughing now, but not a single laugh was amused. She was enraged. 

 

“Look, Kara, let me explain-“

 

“NO!” Kara erupted. “Get the hell out of my apartment and take your  soulmate with you.” Kara looked down at Imra. “Good fucking luck.” She pushed by Imra and Mike, and then pushed Mike through the door and slammed it behind them. 

 

She heard them walk away as she leaned her back against the door and slid down to the floor. She sat on the ground and cried. She felt incredibly stupid. How could she have not realized Mike wasn’t her soulmate? She looked down at her mark. She thought back to the day they met. Did Mike even say what her mark said? She thought so. Maybe not, maybe it was similar to her mark and she had wanted to hear someone say those words so badly that she just instantly believed it. But did she really? Did she ever truly believe Mike was her soulmate? No. She knew that. She knew there was always something missing. So in the midst of the anger at Mike, and herself, there was a smidge of relief. Relief that Michael Matthews was  not her soulmate.

 

Kara looked down at her phone, still clutched in her hand. She scrolled to Alex’s name in her phone. She didn’t want to be alone so she called her sister. 

 

“Hey Kara can I call you back, this episode’s going to be over-“

 

Kara interrupted with a sob. “Alex, Mike isn’t my soulmate and I’m an idiot and I just kicked him out and I really don’t want to be alone and can you just come over?”

 

“Woah woah what? You kicked him out? Are you okay? What happened?”

 

“Can you just come over? Please?”

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Alex took a swig from her tumbler. Whiskey was her answer to most issues, and Kara finally dumping her loser boyfriend was no different. Alex had rushed over as soon as she hung up the phone. But not before grabbing her bottle of Maker’s on the way out. They were sitting at Kara’s kitchen table, sipping the dark liquor.

 

“You were always way too good for him, little sis. That man child would never be good enough for you.”

 

Kara blew her hair out of her face. “I know. I’m just a little ashamed that I didn’t realize that months ago. No, instead I let it drag out a year. A year, Alex. I’ve wasted so much time with him.” 

 

“On the bright side, your soulmate is still out there, and I would bet my paycheck that they’re twice the man Mike could ever be.”

 

“Or woman.” Kara giggled. She was feeling a little tipsy. “Speaking of women, how’s Maggie?”

 

Alex had been dating Maggie Sawyer for the last two years. Alex’s mark appeared at 13 years old with the words “Anyone ever tell you, all you Feds sound the same?” It was an early confirmation of something Kara already knew about Alex. She knew Alex was going to do something in Criminal Justice, and it was no surprise that she went above and beyond and became a special agent for the FBI right out of college. One day while investigating an assassination attempt on National City’s Mayor, Alex saw some local police messing with evidence. She strode up to Detective Maggie Sawyer and said the exact words depicted on Maggie’s bicep. “Hey what the hell do you think you’re doing in my crime scene?” After some bickering and a pissing match about whether it was FBI or NCPD jurisdiction, Alex asked Maggie for some drinks and was sure to show off her mark. Ever since, they’ve fallen head over heels for one another. Exactly how soulmates should.

 

“She’s great, she’s sitting for the sergeant’s exam next week.”

 

“You still haven’t asked her yet?”

 

“No. I’m going to, just right now she’s stressed about the exam and I don’t want to make things worse.”

 

“Alex you’re proposing, not asking for her kidney. It’s not like she’s gonna say no.” 

 

“I know, I just want it to be perfect and I haven’t gotten the perfect moment yet.”

 

“Well when it happens, I want pictures. Hell, videos, preferably in HD so I can see Maggie be reduced to a blubbering mess when you sweep her off her feet with some amazing proposal.” Alex laughed into her drink.

 

“You got it, Kara. You’ll be the first to know when I do it.”

 

They both sat there in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Alex suggested a movie. They flopped onto Kara’s couch and turned on John Tucker Must Die. Kara rolled her eyes at Alex’s choice. However Alex being here had already made Kara feel a million times better. She was so lucky to be so close with her older sister. By the time the credits rolled, both sisters were fast asleep on either side of the couch.

 


	5. A Piece of Work Mother

“Miss Luthor, Mrs. Luthor would like to see you in her office,” said her mother’s assistant Jess. Lena groaned inwardly. It was barely nine in the morning, and speaking to her mother at the beginning of her work day was never a good start. 

 

“Thank you, Jess. I’ll be right up,” replied Lena. She stood, running her hands over invisible wrinkles in her skirt and walked over to the elevator. 

 

Lillian Luthor was a magnate. Every move she made was calculated, strategic. Her presence alone commanded respect. However, the respect always came from a place of fear for most people. Intimidating was an understatement for a woman such as Lillian. 

 

“Hello, Mother,” Lena said after coming through the office door.

 

“Lena, I believe I have instilled better manners in you. You know better than to enter without knocking,” Lillian scolded her daughter. 

 

The relationship between Lillian and Lena was strained, to say the least. Lena was Lionel Luthor’s bastard child. Her father cheated on Lillian and when Lena’s biological mother passed away, Lionel brought little 4 year old Lena into their home. Lillian unfairly blamed Lena for Lionel’s infidelity. She was always so much harder on Lena than her darling son Lex.When Lionel passed away, Lillian kicked Lena out. Granted she was on her way to MIT on a full academic scholarship but there was an entire summer where Lena had to find somewhere to live. 

 

Lex had already left home for Stanford, and he always had a soft spot for Lena. She spent a few weeks that summer on his couch without Lillian knowing. After graduating from MIT, Lex was in control of LuthorCorp and offered Lena a job in the R&D department. She localized her research to medical research in recent years. She knew that the healthcare industry needed reformation in most areas, and she wanted to help wherever she could. After the development of BioMax, Lena had felt she still had so much more to give. She wanted to find a cure for cancer. She wanted to find a cure for AIDS. Every debilitating disease in existence, Lena Luthor wanted to find a cure or treatment. Lillian believed that Lena’s goals were pipeline dreams and missed no opportunity to tell her just that.

 

“Lena, I was just looking over the cardiac prosthesis notes and I am pulling that project. The funds needed just aren’t obtainable any longer,” Lillian stated while shuffling papers on her desk.

 

“But Mother, we are so close to getting it right. I’ve been working on this project day and night for the past 2 years! You can’t just shut down the project. We are weeks away from human trials! What do you mean the funds aren’t _obtainable_?”

 

“Do not raise your voice Lena, it’s very unprofessional. I know this little pet project has been giving you some kind of fulfillment but our stockholders need results, not half promises and you haven’t given satisfactory results. See that the appropriate personnel is notified of the change. Also, Maxwell Lord will be heading the new project. You are to report to him.”

 

Lena was trying to control her temper. Not only was her mother essentially demoting her, she was taking away years of research and making her team start over on a different project from scratch. She swallowed her anger and spoke.

 

“What is the project?” Lena asked through gritted teeth.

 

“Lord has been developing an inhaled medication, similar to albuterol, but instead of asthma it’s to treat people suffering from radiation poisoning.”

 

Lena’s eyebrows rose in disbelief. That...that actually sounded like an amazing breakthrough. However, she knew better than to trust Lillian on her word alone. 

 

“The paperwork should be sent to your office later today and Mr. Lord will be over shortly to get settled in and get you up to speed. Oh, and Lena...” Lillian cold eyes connected with Lena’s. “I need you to bring these severance packages to your team. Mr. Lord has graciously offered his finest research scientists and there is no longer a need for your team.” 

 

“What?! No! I’m not firing anyone from my team. All of them have worked so hard. None of them deserve to be fired!”

 

“If that was true, I wouldn’t have had to pull the plug on the cardiac project. Don’t be difficult dear.”

 

Lena stood, stunned at just how badly this meeting had gone. She knew it wasn’t going to be good news, but losing her project and being forced to fire her team was not what she had prepared for. She grabbed the folders with the terms of severance off from Lillian’s desk and stormed out of the office without another word. 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Lena pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She had terminated well over half of her team already. She checked the list of employees, eight left. She was procrastinating finishing. 

The next name on the list was Samantha Arias. Sam was the closest thing to a friend that Lena had. When Lena started working at LuthorCorp, Sam was one of very few people that would actually speak to Lena. And not just about work. No, they would get lunch together frequently and Sam told Lena all about being a single mother and going through college while pregnant. Sam was the only person in the department that Lena spoke about personal issues with. They were slightly more than just acquaintances at this point. Firing Sam was going to be the hardest to do. The severance packages her team was being given was substantial, but being out of job will be a hardship for Sam especially. 

 

Lena sighed heavily and picked up her phone. It was well past a reasonable hour for lunch but she needed a break from tearing people’s lives apart. She needed some sort of positivity from this god awful day. She scrolled down and hovered her finger of Kara’s contact. Despite the obvious complications of befriending Kara, Lena couldn’t resist. She called. 

 

“Kara Danvers speaking.”

 

“Hi, Kara. It’s Lena. I was wondering if you weren’t busy if you would possibly want to get lunch with me.”

 

“Lena! Hey! Yeah of course! Like, right now? Where do you wanna meet? There’s this cute little cafe I’ve been meaning to try out and it’s right down the street from your office. It’s called Noonan’s. I mean. If that’s okay? If you want something else then-“

 

Lena stifled a laugh at Kara enthusiastic rambling. “That sounds lovely Kara. I’ll be there in about 15 minutes. Is that good for you?”

 

“Yeah! Of course! I’ll see you soon!” Lena hung up and smiled. Of course Kara was the first reason she smiled all day. She gathered her purse and walked out of her office, leaving the severance packages open on top of her desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be their lunch date and Lena is finally going to get some questions answered.


	6. Social Cues Can F*** Off

Lena sat down at a corner table at Noonan’s. She must have missed the lunch rush because there was only a few patrons scattered throughout the restaurant. Lena peered down at her wristwatch which read 4 pm. Kara was a little late. A waiter came by to take her drink order and she ordered a glass of red wine. After the day she’s had, she felt she had definitely deserved a glass, if not an entire bottle. Lena was scrolling through emails on her phone when Kara walked up to the table, arms spread for a hug.

 

“Lena! Sorry I’m a little late, I wanted to finish up for the day so I didn’t have to go back to the office,” Kara told Lena as they hugged tightly. Lena tried to ignore the warm sensation running through her body from Kara being pressed against her. 

 

“You’re fine, it’s perfectly fine,” Lena replied. The words did as intended because as soon as Lena said them, Kara’s eyebrows furrowed and she tilted her head like a cute puppy. Lena held her breath and waited for Kara to say something but Kara just shook her head and sat down. Lena rubbed her arm where her soulmate mark was and decided right then and there she wasn’t leaving this table without directly bringing it up. Damn social cues. 

 

“Still, I’m sorry. I’ve had a rough week. I’m so glad you decided to call. You really are a sight for sore eyes,” Kara admitted. Lena flushed at the compliment. The waiter came back over and took their orders.

 

“I can definitely empathize, there’s a reason I ordered one of these, while technically on the clock,” Lena replied, holding up her glass of wine. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

 

“It’s kind of embarrassing. Mike, you know, my boyfriend? Well ex boyfriend now. I found out he had been cheating on me. And lied about some stuff,” Kara said, fiddling with her glasses. “Well didn’t exactly lie but omitted the truth. Well I guess cheating is lying. I don’t know. Past couple days have been a mess.”

 

“Oh, Kara. I’m so sorry to hear that. What a jerk,” Lena responded and put her hand on Kara’s hand in comfort. “You deserve so much better than that.” Kara smiled. The waiter came back and dropped off their food in front of them.

 

“Thank you. But yeah, he let me believe we were-“ Kara lowered her voice to a whisper as the waiter walked away, “-soulmates.” Lena stilled and drew in a breath. “Like what kind of guy does that?”

 

Lena exhaled. “How did he fake that? Don’t marks match your first words to each other?” Lena asked just as quietly. 

 

“I guess he just said something similar to what my mark says, and his mark was something people say all the time. So I guess it really is my fault for thinking that we were bound. On one hand it sucks because now I have to try to find them again. But on the other hand, at least it’s not Mike. I really thought that it was a cosmic joke that my soulmate and I literally had nothing in common.”

 

Lena contemplated her next move for about a whole three seconds. She grabbed the bottom of her sleeve and raised it past her own mark where “Well fuck me right?” was scribbled on her arm. Kara looked down and her eyebrows rose. 

 

“Oof. That couldn’t have been easy to have on you growing up,” Kara said as she looked at the mark. “Did you ever get picked on?” 

 

Lena just stared at her (clueless) soulmate. She blinked a couple of times before inhaling deeply.

 

“Kara. These are the first words you said to me that day in the laundromat. And yours saysit’s perfectly fine, I’m fine,” Lena stated gesturing to Kara’s own arm.

 

Kara stood straight up, knocking her chair back. 

 

“N-no...what..no that’s not...is this a joke? Did someone pay you to do this? This isn’t funny. I’m not even...I’m not gay!” Kara was no longer whispering. Despite there only being a couple other people in the restaurant, every single one of them were turned and staring at the scene. Kara stood shocked for few seconds, grabbed her bag, tossed some cash on the table. She turned on heel and rushed out of the restaurant without another word. 

 

“Kara wait!” Lena tried to follow her out but once she reached the door, Kara was nowhere to be seen. Lena retreated back into the restaurant and apologized to the hostess and handed her a stack of cash that was well over how much their lunch had cost. On the sidewalk outside she put a hand to her head. 

 

“Well that didn’t go as planned,” Lena muttered to herself.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Kara drove home on autopilot, her mind moving 1,000 miles a minute. Was it a joke? No, Lena didn’t seem the type to play cruel jokes on people. She actually was incredibly kind. And funny. And gorgeous. And she was apparently Kara’s soulmate. Kara was physically shaking by the time she got to her apartment. She was overwhelmed. 

 

Once inside, she looked at her phone that showed she had two missed calls and a new text from Lena Luthor. She almost chucked the whole phone out the window. Instead she placed it on the counter without opening the message. She couldn’t deal with it right now. She down on her couch and groaned. 

 

She realized the last thing she said to her soulmate was how gay she wasn’t. _That’s not entirely true_ , whispered a voice in her head that sounded a lot like Alex. _You’ve definitely thought about it before_. Kara had stopped shaking and was pulling herself together when a knock on the door had her standing from the couch. Neither Alex nor Winn had told her they were coming by so she didn’t know who it could be. Swinging open her door, Lena Luthor was standing on the other side. Kara almost slammed the door shut but then Lena spoke.

 

“Please. Just hear me out. Let’s just talk about this. Please, Kara?” Kara looked Lena up and down. She was biting her bottom lip nervously. 

 

“How do you know where I live?” Kara deadpanned.

 

“Cat and I are friends. She owed me a favor.”

 

Kara scoffed. She is apparently going to have to have a conversation with Miss Grant about safety and privacy. Kara widened the door and stepped back. 

 

“Well, come in, I guess.”

 

“Promise not to run?” Lena asked hesitantly before crossing the threshold.

 

“Yeah. We’re even when it comes to running now,” Kara retorted. She closed the door behind Lena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing clueless!Kara. But at least she knows the truth now.


	7. New Friends and Old Friends

Lena looked around Kara’s cozy one bedroom apartment. There were small knickknacks covering most surfaces, a bookshelf completely filled with assorted novels, and a very comfortable looking couch with a wooden coffee table and entertainment center in front of it. 

 

“Do you want something to drink? Water? Tea? I think I have some wine somewhere,” Kara asked Lena. Lena sat on a bar stool at the kitchen island. 

 

“Tea is fine,” Lena replied and Kara busied herself with setting the kettle to boil. There was an awkward silence. Lena hadn’t really planned out what she was going to say to Kara. She was second guessing coming here when Kara broke the silence.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kara said. “I shouldn’t have ran off on you. It’s...it’s just a lot to absorb. Like, for the last two years I thought Mike was my soulmate. It wasn’t exactly ideal but I figured there was some reason he was my soulmate. And then that blew up in my face and you...You’re a stranger. That’s not what I mean. It’s just. You’re Lena Luthor.” 

 

Lena’s face fell at the implication. 

 

“Wait no! I’m messing this up. I mean that I idolized you. You’re practically a celebrity. And I know all the flack you get for your family and your brother but that’s not what I am referring to. I’m talking about your intelligence, your innovation, all the good you’ve done in this world. I don’t know, I went from having an underwhelming soulmate to, well an extremely overwhelming one.” Kara was trying so hard not to ramble but it was like word vomit at this point. 

 

“You still have a choice, Kara. Just because we have each other’s marks doesn’t mean we have to do anything about it. I would like to be your friend though. I don’t want to pressure you anymore than I already have,” Lena replied running her fingers across the handle of her teacup. “Free will is the most important thing we can have, and if you don’t want anything to happen between us, then it won’t. But I would never forgive myself if I didn’t tell you that I had your mark.”

 

Kara sat quietly, thinking of everything that had happened in the last few hours. She had been on such a rollercoaster ride of emotions. 

 

“I think...I think I need some time. I have to wrap my head around all of this,” Kara admitted, gesturing with her hands. Lena drained the last of her tea. 

 

“You can have all the time you need. I just think we shouldn’t run from this, you’re an amazing person from what I’ve seen so far. Just give me a call when you decide where you want to go from here.” Lena grabbed her purse off from the bar stool next to her and went to leave Kara’s apartment. Before Lena reached the door Kara put her hand on Lena’s shoulder. 

 

“I promise that I won’t take too long. Just a little bit,” Kara said giving Lena a half smile.

 

“Goodnight, Kara.”

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

As Lena was getting into her car, her phone vibrated. Samantha Arias was calling her. 

 

**Lena, what the hell are these severance packages that everyone’s getting? Why are we being fired? Am I getting fired? What the hell is going on?**

 

Lena inhaled deeply. She didn’t want to do this over the phone. She didn’t want to do this at all. 

 

“I’m on my way back to the office now. I’ll explain everything there.”

 

**It’s 7:45 Lena. I went home an hour ago. Eve told me you fired her because of some bullshit Lillian is pulling and Paul said we are all getting the hatchet. Is that true?**

 

“Sam, I have to talk to you in person. You can either come back to the office, or we can have this conversation in the morning.”

 

**Shit Lena. Are you kidding me? I’ve worked for LuthorCorp for 5 years now. You’re just going to play a pawn for your bitch of a mother? Did you even fight for any of us? There was a rumor that Maxwell Lord is coming to LuthorCorp. Does he have something to do with this? What about Ruby? I just put a down payment on a house! How am I going to keep a roof over our heads?!**

 

Sam was spiraling. The more questions she asked, the louder she got. She was practically screaming at Lena and Lena felt like the worst person in the world. 

 

“Sam- SAM! Stop. I’m going to go talk to Lillian right now. I’m going to try to fix this. You’re right. I can’t let her do this anymore. I’ll call you tonight. Don’t panic yet. I’m going to figure something out.”

 

**Whatever you say Lena** , Sam muttered before hanging up on Lena. 

 

Lena wracked her brain for a solution. She had to stand up for her team and herself. Lillian was destroying people’s lives and Lena couldn’t be apart of it any longer.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

“Mother,” Lena said as she strode into Lillian’s office. 

 

“Lena, darling. Did you deliver all of the severance packages?” Lillian asked.

 

“I’m actually here to inform you of my own resignation. I can no longer work for a company that thinks so little of its employees,” Lena stated flatly. Lillian stilled and set the pen she was writing with down on her desk. She peered up at Lena and her face showed mock pity. 

 

“You always were a disappointment. I asked one thing of you, and you could not even handle that.” Lillian scoffed as she pulled a file from her desk drawer and handed it to Lena. “You were next, anyways. I was giving you one last opportunity and only because Lex asked it of me. For some reason, he still believed in you.” 

 

Lena flipped through a severance package with her name at the top. 

 

“You are some piece of work, Mother,” Lena sneered. “I hope Lord knows what he is signing up for.”

 

“Don’t worry yourself about that, darling. Sign that and get out of my office. Please don’t make me call security.”

 

Lena tore the papers in half. “I don’t want your pity money,” she gritted out, turned on heel and left.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Lena’s first phone call after leaving her mother’s office was to Jack Spheer. Jack had helped her with BioMax, gave her advice throughout her research. After BioMax was released, Jack tried poaching her from LuthorCorp but Lena declined due to some warped sense of loyalty. She was praying the offer still stood.

 

**Hello?**

 

“Jack! Hey, it’s Lena. Sorry I haven’t been in contact recently.”

 

**Oh, don’t worry. I heard a rumor about a certain someone that’s about to make a major breakthrough with cardiac prosthetics. You sure have been busy.**

 

“Actually that’s why I’m calling. I no longer work for LuthorCorp. Lillian pulled that project, fired my team and me. Well, actually, I quit. I was wondering if you would consider bringing me on. I know we talked about it years ago. Weeks, Jack, I am weeks from human trials for this project. I know I’m asking a lot and-“

 

**Yes**.

 

“-I really am sorry for springing this on you. Wait, what?”

 

**Yes. Of course. Is the patent under your name?**

 

“Yes it is,” Lena answered. “I headed the department. Lillian never made me sign an employment agreement assigning invention rights.” Lena was surprised her mother made such an oversight. Lillian was typically very meticulous. 

 

**I am actually in the market for a R &D Director. Ours is retiring, and none of my staff has enough experience. You couldn’t have asked at a better time.**

 

“That’s not all. I do have a favor to ask as well. The supervisor underneath me, Samantha Arias, was laid off. She’s truly brilliant, Jack. She was basically my right hand throughout the project. I couldn’t morally continue without her.”

 

**Done. If Lena Luthor says they’re brilliant, who am I to say different. I’ll bring her and you on. It’s going to be a couple of weeks to get everything in order, is that alright?**

 

“Yes. You have no idea how much I appreciate this, Jack. I won’t let you down.”

 

**See to it that you don’t. I’ll email you later this week with the paperwork and contracts from HR. Anything else?**

 

“No, thank you so much. Have a good evening, Jack.” Lena ended the call and had to stop herself from actually jumping up and down in excitement. Now all there was left to do was call Sam and get her up to speed.

 

 

 


	8. Alex, Meet Lena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one but it’s like twice the amount that I normally write for a chapter. Let me know what you think!

Kara Danvers grew up knowing what pain was.She lost everything she knew at 12 years old. She would never forget coming home to ashes. The people at the scene of the fire would never forget the anguished cries that erupted from Kara when realization that her parents were _never_ coming out of the house again. She would never forget Eliza Danvers pulling her close, whispering futile words of comfort. 

 

It was her first sleepover with Alex that night. Once Jeremiah and Eliza got the news, they woke up Kara and attempted to explain to this young child that her life would be forever changed. Before they could properly explain, Kara had bolted from the Danvers’ house, through the neighborhood, to find her house already extinguished. Her parents were no where to be found. 

 

The Danvers took in a broken Kara, and attempted to help tape her pieces back together. After years of counseling, Kara grew to be the strong woman she was today. She had a family. Even though the hole in her heart from losing her parents would never be filled, Alex, Eliza, and Jeremiah made sure she knew she was loved. 

 

 

~~~~

 

 

“Let me see if I got this right. Lena Luthor is your soulmate. A _Luthor_ is your soulmate. A person from the family that is quite possibly the actual definition of evil, is your soulmate,” Alex said all in one breath. Alex had stopped by after a phone call from Kara explaining that so much shit had hit the fan and she couldn’t be alone.

 

“Lena’s not like them! She testified against Lex, Alex. Her brother. Would you be able to testify against me?”

 

“Well no, but you don’t blow up buildings for the hell of it Kara! That whole family is dangerous. But wait, if you aren’t freaking out about her being a Luthor then why are you freaking out?” Alex asked furrowing her brow. Kara sat quietly and didn’t respond. “Is it- is it because she’s a _she_?”

 

“No! Well. Maybe, sort of. I’ve just never done that before. It’s not like I’m against it or anything. It’s just...different. I thought I was straight. But Lena is just so damn perfect.”

 

Alex scoffed. “Yeah, sure she is.”

 

“Stop it, Alex. Judge people on their own merits. Everything that Lena has shown me so far, she is every bit deserving of a benefit of the doubt.”

 

“Sounds to me that you already have made your mind up about what you want to do. You obviously like her. So you’re experiencing a small bout of gay panic. It happens. I am not going to say that I like the fact that you’re bound to a Luthor of all people, but there’s nothing I can do about it. But Kara, if you don’t want to be with her there isn’t anyone forcing you to. Just because the universe says so, doesn’t mean it has to happen.”

 

Kara sat there contemplating everything. Was she making this into a bigger issue than it needed? Lena offered to be friends. She could always start there. It’s not like she had to immediately jump into a relationship with Lena. She had learned her mistake with her first so called _soulmate_. 

 

“You’re right. I think I’m going to tell her that we can be friends. I think that’s all I’m emotionally capable of doing.”

 

Alex leaned over and put her hand on Kara’s arm. “Just be careful, alright? I know you trust her but I don’t. People can show you what they want you to see, not necessarily what you _need_ to see.”

 

Kara fought the urge to roll her eyes. She knew Lena probably wasn’t perfect but she was a pretty good judge of character and Lena seemed harmless. “I’ll be careful.”

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Lena and Sam’s first day at Spheerical Industries was filled with introductions, a tour, and getting settled in their new lab. 

 

“Have I said thank you?” Sam asked as she was finishing setting up her work area.

 

“Only about a couple dozen times,” Lena answered with a chuckle. “You deserve this Sam. We both do. Jack is giving us free reign and we can finally work on projects that matter.”

 

“No offense, but I’m so happy I never have to see LuthorCorp again. As much experience as I gained there, I was losing so much of myself to that company.”

 

“Trust me, I can relate.” Lena picked up her phone to check her messages for the 30th time that day. Her face fell slightly because for the 30th time in a row, there still was no message from Kara. Sam noticed Lena’s disappointment.

 

“She still hasn’t called?” Sam asked.

 

“No, and I told her to take her time. But, Christ it’s been almost 3 weeks. I’m starting to think she realized what a horrible mistake it would be to around me,” Lena replied self deprecatingly.

 

“Oh, shut up. If she is really bailing on you then she’s an idiot. You’re great, and anyone would be lucky to have you in their life. And if she doesn’t see that, then that’s on her.”

 

Lena smiled sadly. “I just didn’t think it would take this long to make up her mind. Even if it’s a no, I thought she would’ve told me by now.” Sam stepped up behind Lena and rubbed her back.

 

“How about we go out tonight? Ruby’s old enough to be home for a few hours alone now and what we both deserve is to celebrate being free from your cold bitch of a mother.”

 

Lena playfully rolled her eyes at Sam. “Alright. One drink, though. We still have to be able to function tomorrow.”

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Lena and Sam grabbed a bar table next to the pool table. There was a woman with a short red undercut and a black leather jacket and her girlfriend, a tough looking woman with tan skin and brunette wavy hair playing at the table. They were very obviously together, as they pulled each other in for a kiss after bickering back and forth about rules. Lena tried not to stare but they were so adorably in love with each other.

 

“-and I told Ruby she isn’t allowed to date until she is at least 35.”

 

Lena looked back at Sam. “I’m sorry, what?”

 

Sam looked where Lena was staring and smiled sympathetically. “Ya know what Luthor? I’m going to wingman, well wingwoman for you tonight. Even if you don’t want to go home with somebody, you’re getting someone’s number tonight.”

 

“Hold up, Sam I don’t want-“ Lena tried to stop her but Sam was already walking up to an admittedly attractive blonde woman across the bar. Lena slumped back down onto the bar stool and watched as Sam spoke to the woman and pointed at her. The woman smiled at Lena and Lena gave a small wave in return. Sam was starting to lead the woman back to their bar table when a very familiar blonde woman rushed passed her table, up to the couple at the pool table. 

 

“Hey Little Danvers!” shouted the tough looking woman. 

 

“Hey Maggie! Alex!” Kara shouted back over the music as she pulled the redhead in for a hug.

 

Lena looked back at Sam as she approached the table with the other attractive blonde. 

 

“Lena, this is Riley-“

 

“I’m sorry, can you hold on for just a moment?” Lena stood and walked towards Kara and her friends before anyone could answer.

 

“Lena! Hey! What- what are you doing here?” Kara asked. Lena watched as Kara’s eyes drifted down to look at the black dress that was currently hugging Lena’s curves.

 

“Hello. I’m just out with a coworker for a drink.” Lena replied gesturing back at Sam. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

 

“Sure.” Kara told Alex she’d be right back and followed Lena to the smoker’s patio. There was only 2 other people outside. 

 

“So....” Lena hesitated. “Why haven’t you texted me?”

 

“I’m so sorry, this is going to sound like a bad excuse but it’s true, I promise. I was going to call you a few weeks ago, but I accidentally drowned my phone in orange juice and then when I got my new phone,” Kara held up her phone as proof, “your number wasn’t backed up so I lost it. I even went to your office but there was some guy there and he said you didn’t work there anymore and I didn’t know how to get ahold of you.”

 

“You follow me on Twitter, you could’ve messaged me there.”

 

“Oh. Shit. I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry. But you’re here! Hi! And I really just had to tell you I want to be friends. I mean. If you still want me. To-to be your friend.” Kara looked into Lena’s eyes hopeful.

 

Lena smile widened. “That sounds lovely.” She looked down at Kara’s outfit. It was a white tank top that showed off toned biceps and tight black skinny jeans. “Friends. Yeah.” Lena said distractedly. 

 

Kara tried ignoring the fact that Lena was looking at her like she was a tall glass of water in a sweltering desert. “Now that that’s sorted, do you wanna go play some pool? My sister and her girlfriend are inside. I can introduce you to them.”

 

“Sure, I have to go explain my absence to Sam anyways.”

 

Lena followed Kara back inside of the bar. She walked up to Sam. The woman, Riley, was no longer standing at the table. 

 

“Who’s that?” Sam asked looking at Kara. 

 

“That’s uh-that’s Kara and her friends.” Lena replied grabbing her drink. “Do you want to go play pool with them?” Sam gasped. 

 

“That’s _her_? Damn, Lena. She’s hot.” Sam said eyes widening. “You go on ahead, I’m going to head home. But I expect a full report in the morning.” Sam hugged Lena goodbye and Lena found herself walking back to the pool table.

 

“Alex, this is Lena, Lena this is my sister Alex.” Lena extended her hand to shake Alex’s. Alex narrowed her eyes and shook her hand. Lena pulled her hand back after and shook it a little.

 

“Wow, that’s quite the grip.” 

 

“I know,” was all Alex said in response. She was all but glaring at Lena when Kara elbowed her and have her a pointed look.

 

“And this is Maggie Sawyer, her girlfriend.” Kara introduced.

 

“Yeah, we’ve met,” Maggie mumbled. Kara looked between them confused. 

 

“Hello again Detective Sawyer.” Lena said politely. Kara’s eyebrows shot up when realization set in. Maggie worked Lex’s case. Of course they had met. 

 

“Lena.” Maggie nodded her head in response.

 

“Anyways, Lena wanna be my partner?” Kara asked looking again, so hopeful.

 

“I don’t really know how to play, but you could teach me?” Lena suggested. Kara nodded in agreement. 

 

“Sure! I’m not very good, but it’s still fun.” Kara handed her a pool stick. “Alex, you guys can break.” Kara looked back at Lena. “So basically you hit the white ball into your ball and try to get your balls into the pockets on the side and corners. But not the 8 ball, that one goes last.”

 

Alex broke, and once it was Lena’s turn Kara stood behind her, placing the pool stick in position for Lena to hit the cue ball. Her stomach and hips were touching Lena’s back, her arms basically wrapped around Lena’s own, and Lena brought in a deep breath to try and control the feeling that warmed its way through her body at the contact. She brought the pool stick back and hit the cue ball a bit too hard. The ball shot in a different direction than she intended.

 

“It’s okay! You’ll get the hang of it!” Kara encouraged. Lena grabbed her drink off the ledge she had placed it on and gulped down the rest. She smiled up at Kara.

 

“I sure hope so, I’m too competitive to be bad at anything. I’m going to go get another drink, do any of you need anything?” After getting the various drink orders, Lena walked to the bar to get their drinks. While waiting for the bartender, Riley walked up and placed herself in Lena’s personal space.

 

“You disappeared,” Riley said leaning down to talk directly in Lena’s ear. Lena winced at the volume and proximity. 

 

“Yeah, my friend showed up.” Lena replied without looking at Riley. 

 

“Just your friend, right?” Riley asked and placed a hand on Lena’s lower back. Lena tried to side step away from the contact. This woman was pretty but she was also making Lena uncomfortable. 

 

“Uh...”

 

“Do you need hand, Lena?” Kara walked up behind her and pointed at the drinks the bartender had set in front of her.

 

“Yes, thank you,” she replied, grateful for the interruption. Riley looked Kara up and down, scoffed and walked away. 

 

Kara leaned down to speak in Lena’s ear. “You just looked uncomfortable, I’m sorry if I read it wrong.”

 

“No, you’re fine, thank you actually. She was weirding me out. Some people don’t understand personal space.” Kara stepped back a few feet quickly and Lena let out a laugh. “Not you, silly.” Kara smiled and relaxed. Lena placed a hand on Kara’s upper arm. “You don’t make me uncomfortable at all.” She peered up at Kara through her eyelashes, hoping Kara would understand.

 

Kara giggled bashfully and led Lena back to the pool table. 

 

“Come on guys! Stop flirting and play. Lena you’re up!” Alex shouted over the music. Kara and Lena both flushed bright red. 

 

Alex and Maggie dominated the game and ended up winning two more times after the first. Lena glanced at her watch. 

 

“I have to get going, tomorrow’s my second day and it’s best if I don’t go in hungover.” 

 

“You’ve been drinking, how are you getting home?” Kara asked, her eyes filling with concern.

 

“I was going to get a cab.” 

 

“Let me drive you home. It’s late, it’s not safe for you to be alone.”

 

“Didn’t you also drink?”

 

“Nope,” Kara popped out. “I had soda water all night.”

 

Lena hesitated for a moment, thinking about the complications of being alone with Kara before responding.

 

“Yes.”

 

 

 

 


	9. Gal Pals and Escape Plans

Kara’s parents had left everything to her which included her dad’s 1969 Dodge Charger. When Lena walked up to the car her eyebrows rose a bit in surprise. 

 

“Nice ride,” Lena said, running a finger up the side of the old muscle car. Kara opened the door for Lena to slide in. 

 

“It used to be. I haven’t taken as good of care of it as I should have. Your window won’t go all the way up, sorry. I really need to get that fixed.” Kara admitted settling into the driver seat and putting on her seat belt. “Safety first, Miss Luthor,” she added gesturing to Lena’s seat belt. Lena chuckled and strapped herself in. 

 

“Where to?” Kara asked. Lena told her the address to her apartment building and Kara pulled out of the parking lot of the bar.

 

Being in the car made Lena realize she was probably a bit more than tipsy. Her stomach grumbled in protest to the turns Kara was making. She closed her eyes for a moment before Kara broke the silence in the car.

 

“Did you get picked on?”

 

Lena opened her eyes and furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

 

“You know, for your mark? Did kids at school say anything about it?”

 

“Never to my _face_ ,” Lena replied softly. “I’m sure there were whispers and people likely said shit behind my back but most everyone was scared of Lex. They left me alone for the most part. My mother was the one who had the biggest issue with it. She even took me to a few tattoo parlors and tried to bribe the artists to cover it.”

 

Kara’s eyes widened. “But you were a kid!” 

 

Lena shrugged in response. “She didn’t care, she wanted it covered up. She threw out all of my short sleeves, bought all sorts of wristwatches and wristbands. I wasn’t allowed out of the house if it was showing. She deemed it disgraceful and well below a Luthor’s standard. Honestly I think that’s how she feels about me as a whole. Only fits that my mark is as shameful as my status of a bastard.”

 

Kara stopped at a red light and looked over at Lena. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have cussed at you.”

 

Lena laughed. “It isn’t your fault that the universe is hellbent on making my life as difficult as possible. Plus, you didn’t even know that we had each other’s marks. Don’t feel bad. As vulgar as it is, I’m very happy to have it. The mark itself has never bothered me. How my mother treated me for it was awful, but that’s on her.”

 

“How did your dad feel about it?” Kara inquired.

 

“He never treated me differently. Granted, he allowed Lillian to try all those ways to cover it. Lex was Lillian’s favorite, but I was my father’s little girl. He doted on me. It used to piss my mother off so much. But he never really mentioned my soulmate mark. I think he was the kind of person that didn’t really believe in them. He had one, but Lillian didn’t. They weren’t soulmates, but they were a good match. Quite the power couple honestly,” Lena finished with a small laugh. “What about you? How’d your parents feel when you got yours?”

 

“They died a few months before I got mine,” Kara replied somberly. “My adoptive parents though, they are big believers in being bound to another. They are each other’s soulmate. And my sister Alex, her and her girlfriend are soulmates. Alex’s gonna propose soon. I’m a little surprised it’s taken her this long, they’re perfect for each other.”

 

“I’m sorry about your parents.” Lena whispered. “I know what it’s like to lose them early in life.”

 

“Yeah, nothing could ever replace them but I’m so lucky to have Alex, Eliza, and Jeremiah in my life. They have been there for me everyday. I like to think that my parents are looking over us all. I really hope they’re proud of who I’ve become.”

 

“I’m positive they are,” Lena confirmed as they pulled into the parking garage of her building. 

 

Lena’s building wasn’t what Kara was expecting at all. It’s pretty well known that the Luthor’s were old money, with most of their names being listed on the Forbes 400. However Lena’s apartment complex was just so average.

 

“Why do you live here?” Kara asked before her brain caught up with how rude that was. “Oh _god_ I’m so sorry, forget I asked that, that was so inappropriate of me.”

 

“It’s alright, I can understand the confusion. My mother kicked me out when I was young, and cut me off financially. It was...an adjustment. I went from silver spoons and maids to plastic ware and well, laundromats. I’ve never been as obsessed with money and power as my family. I want to change the world, and I honestly believe you need more than money to make a difference.”

 

Kara stared at Lena in awe. “You’re kind of incredible, you know that?” Lena blushed and ducked her head at the compliment. “I’m serious. You’ve been handed the short end of the stick so many times in your life, yet that doesn’t stop you from going out and trying to help people. You’re pretty much a hero, Lena.” Kara reached out and placed her hand on Lena’s forearm. Her hand brushed against the mark, and both felt a warm sensation flow through their veins. It felt like an electric current coming from Kara and leading into Lena’s whole body. Lena shivered from the feeling and Kara took in a deep breath. 

 

“I gotta go,” Lena said pulling her arm away and gathering her bag from the floor. She missed the contact almost instantly. “Can we get lunch sometime this week?”

 

Kara smiled brightly. “Yeah, of course! If there’s food involved, I’m there.” Kara opened her car door and hurried around to open the door for Lena. 

 

“And they say chivalry is dead,” Lena commented as she got out. Kara held her arms open for a hug. Lena wrapped her arms around Kara’s slim waist and smiled when Kara tighten the hug. 

 

“Goodnight Kara, thank you for the ride home,” Lena mumbled into Kara’s hair. She pulled away and looked into Kara’s deep blue ocean eyes. 

 

“It was my pleasure. Text me about lunch!” 

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

 

“Spill, Luthor.”

 

Lena knew Sam was going to be like a dog with a bone about her ditching her for Kara. She had just walked into the office and Sam was already interrogating her.

 

“There’s nothing to spill. We had drinks. She taught me how to play pool, which I’m never playing again, and then she took me home.”

 

“She took you home?! Lena, you should’ve started with that. How was it? She looks strong, did she toss you around? Was it good? I bet it was good.”

 

Lena rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant. She drove me home. That’s it. We talked, it was nice. She wants to be friends.”

 

Sam looked at Lena exasperated. “Why?” she asked. 

 

“Why what?”

 

“Just friends? You guys are soulmates. What does she think that means? You’re bound together to be gal pals?”

 

“I don’t know. But I’m okay with it, there’s nothing wrong with being friends first,” Lena replied shortly as she sat down at her desk opening her laptop. 

 

Sam let it go for now but Lena knew that wasn’t the end of that conversation. Lena opened up her email and scrolled through the mess she had left last night. She was in the middle of responding to one of the more urgent emails when Jack rushed into her office.

 

“Have you seen the news?” he practically shouted. He shoved his tablet under her nose where there was a Breaking News video playing with the caption **Lillian Luthor Arrested for Conspiracy, Assisting Escape**. 

 

A news anchor was speaking into the camera. “The FBI intercepted what appeared to be a coded letter from Stryker’s Island. After decoding the letter, it was clear Lillian Luthor was planning with Lex Luthor, her son, an escape.” A video showed Lillian being escorted out of LuthorCorp in handcuffs. “What does this mean for the future of LuthorCorp-“ Lena closed the video. 

 

“Did you know...” Jack asked hesitantly.

 

Lena rubbed her forehead. She was quickly developing a headache. “No. It’s unsurprising but I didn’t think she would take it this far. Fucking Lex, Jesus Christ.”

 

“Take the rest of the day off.”

 

“I don’t need to-“

 

“That wasn’t a request Lena. I believe you didn’t have anything to do with it, but the police are going to be investigating you next. You should just get the jump on it. Call your contact with NCPD, comply with everything they need. Get a handle on this,” Jack instructed.

 

Lena sighed, closed her laptop and pulled out her phone. She had 3 missed calls. One from her lawyer, one from an unfamiliar number, and the last from Kara. She cleared the notification and went into her contacts pressing Maggie Sawyer as she walked out of her office.


	10. Dun Dun Dun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay trigger warning for some violence in this one. Sorry this has taken so long to update, life has been wild lately and this was difficult for me to write. As always, enjoy!

Hands ran down Kara’s waist and settled at the tops of her thighs. A soft breath blew against the sensitive skin below her ear. She felt lips drag against her neck, sending goosebumps across her entire body. She peered down into crystal green eyes that looked up at her. 

 

“Kara..” Lena whispered. Lena’s hands slid up her torso and rested right below Kara’s sternum. Kara’s body was reacting, her face was flushed and her hands trembled on Lena’s back. Lena leaned up and as her lips were a breath away from Kara’s she yelled out.

 

“Kara! Wake up!” 

 

Alex was standing above her and took a step back to avoid being head butted as Kara shot straight up in bed. She gripped her sheets and tried to gather her bearings. She took in a handful of deep breaths. It was a dream. Lena wasn’t here, she didn’t almost kiss her. Just a dream.

 

Alex smirked knowingly at her. “Good dream?” she asked. “I probably could’ve gone without hearing you make those sort of noises.” Kara blushed furiously and avoided eye contact with her sister.

 

“What are you doing here at- Kara glanced at her alarm clock- 7:30?! Are you okay? Is it Eliza? Jeremiah?”

 

“They’re fine. I’m actually here about Lena. Did you talk to her yesterday?”

 

Kara stood up out of bed and pulled out some clothes from her dresser.

 

“Alex...” Kara said warningly while pulling her pants on. “If this is about her mom being arrested, she didn’t have anything to do with it. She doesn’t even speak to her mom. She texted me and told me she was going to talk to Maggie and get everything sorted out yesterday morning but I haven’t talked to her since. Why?”

 

“Well she called Maggie but Maggie asked her to come down to the station and she never showed. I want to believe you, I do, but her not showing is suspicious. She’s not answering her phone, she didn’t answer the door when we went by last night, didn’t show up at work this morning. Do you have any idea where she could be?” 

 

Kara finished buttoning up her shirt and turned to face Alex. “No. I still don’t think she has anything to do with planning to break Lex out. But now I’m worried, what if something happened to her?” Kara pulled out her phone and called Lena’s number. It rang through twice and then went to Lena’s voicemail. “She ignored the call...” Kara trailed off. She started typing a message out. 

 

**Kara: [7:45 am]** Hey just checking up to see how you’re doing, call me back

 

Not even fifteen seconds later, Kara’s phone dinged.

 

**Lena: [7:46 am]** im fine will call u l8r

 

Kara frowned at the message. Lena doesn’t use shorthand in text messages and she definitely doesn’t leave out punctuation. 

 

“Alex, look.” Kara scrolled up through their messages and held the phone up to Alex. “Lena doesn’t text like that.” All of the previous messages Kara had received from Lena had perfect grammar, spelling, and punctuation. “She told me she thought shorthand was just lazy. It’s weird that she typed like that, right?”

 

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know.”

 

Kara furrowed her brow and started typing out a new message.

 

**Kara: [7:50 am]** actually it’s really important, can you call me now? 

 

Kara stared at her phone. Three little bubbles that indicated Lena was typing popped up and then disappeared. Kara waited a little longer, walked to her kitchen and started coffee. There was a sinking feeling in her gut that something was actually very wrong. She couldn’t shake how weird it was that Lena wouldn’t call her. At 8:15, Alex told Kara she had to go to work. After a quick hug, she was out the door leaving Kara to stare at her phone and sip worriedly at her coffee.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

_Yesterday_

 

 

 

“Detective Sawyer, it’s Lena Luthor. As I’m sure you are already aware, Lillian has been arrested. I just wanted to give you a call and let you know that I will help in anyway that I can,” Lena spoke briskly into her phone as she walked onto the sidewalk outside of Spheerical Industries. 

 

“Miss Luthor. Thanks for calling. Is it possible for you to come down to the station this morning so I can take a statement. We have a couple of questions for you as well,” Maggie replied professionally. 

 

“Yes, I’ll be there shortly.” Lena hung up her phone and pulled up the Lyft app on her phone. A black sedan pulled up moments later and Lena slid into the back seat greeting the driver as she buckled her seatbelt. Looking up, she gasped quietly. In the driver’s seat sat John Corben, one of her brother’s thugs. 

 

“Hello Miss Luthor.” The doors locked and Corben accelerated down the street.

 

“What are you doing? Let me out,” Lena demanded, trying but failing to keep the panic out of her voice. 

 

“Now, now. Why would I do that? I don’t get paid if I let you out here. No, I think I’ll do what your darling brother asked of me. Now just sit back and relax. This won’t be too long of a trip.” Corben looked at her through the rear view mirror, with a villainous grin plastered across his face. Lena looked down to the middle of the front seats where Corben had a handgun pointing at her. 

 

“You made picking you up terribly easy, love. Next time, you might want to check the license plate on your Lyft,” he sneered at her.

 

She spent the short trip staring down the barrel of Corben’s gun, not saying a single word.

 

Corben pulled up to a warehouse that was on the city limits. A massive garage door opened to let him pull in. He put the car in park as the garage door closed, keeping his gun trained on Lena. 

 

“Here we are little missy. Your brother has some surprises for you. Get out.” 

 

Lena slowly opened her door and slid out of the car. She looked around the empty decrepit warehouse. There didn’t seem to be anyone else there. Several 50 gallon drums containing god knows what lined the wall, and there was a single chair in the middle of the floor. Corben gestured to the chair with the gun. 

 

“Your throne, Princess. Have a seat.”

 

Lena held her chin up in a defiant manner and didn’t move. Corben drew his hand with the gun in it back and smacked her in the face. 

 

“I said move!” he roared. Lena stumbled back. Corben grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to the chair. He pulled four sets of handcuffs out and secured Lena’s arms and legs to the chair. She felt blood trickle from the corner of her mouth and licked it, the taste and smell of iron permeating her senses. Corben patted down her blazer’s pocket and pulled out her phone. 

 

“Someone’s popular. Let’s see here. Maggie Sawyer, Maggie Sawyer, Maggie Sawyer. 3 missed calls from Maggie, who is that? Your girlfriend? Your brother spoke of your.... _proclivities_.” 

 

“Fuck you,” Lena gritted out. Corben slapped her again, this time with just his hand. 

 

“Look you little bitch, Lex just wanted you here alive, he didn’t say anything about not being hurt. Now tell me your passcode. We gotta make sure your little girlfriend doesn’t get too worried.

 

Lena spat at him. A glob of spit landed on his chin.

 

“You fucking slut.” Corben grabbed Lena’s hair on the back of her head and tilted her head back. He pressed the gun to her temple. “Tell. Me. The. Passcode.”

 

“0804,” Lena finally answered, not wanting to make this man actually shoot her out of anger in this shitty warehouse.

 

Corben put in the code and smiled. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it? Now wait here, your surprise will be coming along soon.” Corben stalked off leaving Lena alone, strapped to the chair, not knowing whether she was ever walking out of this warehouse.

 


	11. Kara Danvers, You Are My Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys this is getting real close to the end. All mistakes are my own.

Light streamed in from a window in the far left corner of the warehouse. Lena watched as the ray of light got smaller and smaller over the next hour, signaling the sun was setting. She had been strapped to the chair for almost 35 hours. Corben had been back once today with just a cup of water. 

 

“Can’t have you dying from dehydration. Your brother wouldn’t like that.”

 

Lena had to stamp down the urge to spit the water at him and reluctantly gulped it when he had tilted the glass against her mouth. 

 

Every part of her body ached, her wrists were bruised and bloodied from her trying to squeeze them free. The cuffs were too tight and she only managed to hurt herself further. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to break the chair. She was trapped. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, she had felt trapped in almost every aspect of her life. Trapped in a loveless cruel family, trapped in a job that never truly fulfilled her, always just trapped. 

 

Lena cracked her neck and wished she could just stand to relieve the pressure on her lower back. Besides the physical discomfort she was progressively becoming more fearful. She didn’t know what Lex had planned. Her “surprise” still hadn’t been revealed. When she asked Corben, he ignored her before leaving her alone in the warehouse again. She hadn’t slept yet and her eyes were starting to feel very heavy. Her eyes had fluttered shut when a loud bang had her sitting up straighter, her eyes widening at the newcomer.

 

“Hello, Lena.”

 

Lex Luthor stood 15 feet away. Dressed in a slim fitting suit, back straight, he walked into the light from the lightbulb dangling above Lena’s head.

 

“Sorry it took so long, I got a little _caught_ up,” Lex said with a wicked looking smile on his face.

 

“L-Lex-what-how-how are you here?” Lena stammered. 

 

“Oh, sis. Did you really think I was going to let anyone cage me up? No, no, no. Luthor’s don’t stay in jail. We don’t let anyone control us.” Lex clasped his hands together and walked closer. “What do we have here?” he tutted brushing Lena’s hair back to see the cut Corben left on her temple. “He does have a temper, doesn’t he?” 

 

“What do you want from me?” Lena asked, her face a mask of indifference. She wasn’t going to show her brother any more fear. “What could you possibly gain from kidnapping me?”

 

“Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t believe you would have come _willingly_. I tried sending you letters but I never got a response. So I came to see you. I simply want to talk. That’s all,” he smiled mockingly at her. He walked over to one of the fifty gallon drums and tapped it with his index finger. “And as for what I want from you, well...let’s just say someone has to take the credit for my little show and tell that I’ll be putting on in the morning.” Lex’s smile was maniacal at this point, his eyes wild, untamed. Lena stared at him and tried to remember the last time she saw him sane. 

 

“You see, when Mother hired Maxwell Lord to work on the inhaler project, she was doing what I asked of her. Lord’s medicine _works_ , yes, however, if you just add one teeny tiny ingredient his life saving medicine becomes a weapon. And while the FBI was digging through our military contracts, they overlooked a very important contract with CADMUS. It’s funny actually, if they had done their jobs properly then things wouldn’t have gotten this far. Do you know what CADMUS is, dear sister?” 

 

Lena shook her head.

 

“CADMUS is the future. Imagine it.” Lex spread out his arms gesturing wildly in the air. “No more police, no more government, no more restrictions on the development of science. The sky’s the limit. Hell! The end of the _galaxy_ is the limit. We would be in complete control of our own lives. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want to save the world with me Lena?”

 

Lena just blinked. Lex had completely lost his fucking mind. And apparently their mother was, at best, enabling him. Nothing he was saying was making any sense.

 

“I said do you want to save the fucking world with me?!” Lex screamed when Lena didn’t respond.

 

“Yes,” Lena finally answered. She had to think quickly. “How can I help from this chair though? Lex, just undo these cuffs and I promise you, I’ll help in every way that I can. I want that too. I want to help you.” Lena tried pleading. 

 

Lex stood in front of her and waved a finger in her face. “Ah, ah, ah. Sorry little sis. You turned your back on me once before when you decided to testify against me. You won’t fool me twice. And to be frank, you being here tomorrow, well that’s all the help I really need from you.” Lex tapped her on the nose condescendingly.

 

BANG

 

A door from behind Lena burst opened startling the two of them.

 

“FBI GET ON THE GROUND.” Alex Danvers and five other agents were standing just inside the door. Lex turned on heel and started to run. He didn’t get very far. A shot rang out and he tumbled to the ground. Alex expertly landed a shot in his calf. “I told you to get on the ground, you could’ve just done it my way, but no,” she mumbled “you had to run, why do they always run. It never ends well.” Two agents had ran to Lex, held him down and cuffed him. Alex walked up to Lena.

 

“Hey hey, you’re okay. Everything’s okay. I got you,” Alex comforted Lena as she undid the handcuffs. Lena stumbled as she tried to stand and Alex wrapped her arm around her and helped her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get you checked out.”

 

Lex and Corben were being shoved in the back of unmarked cars as Alex was leading Lena to the back of an ambulance. 

 

“We’re taking you to the hospital to be checked out- no arguments. I’ll meet you there to take your statement,” Alex told Lena as she handed her off to the paramedics.

 

“How did you find me?” Lena asked, her eyes filled with gratitude for the older Danvers sister. 

 

Alex gave her a half smile. “Kara. She figured it out. She noticed something weird about your texts and we managed to trace your cell phone. We knew once Lex escaped that you were with him, we just didn’t know if it was of your own accord or not,” she explained apologetically. “Now go, that cut on your forehead doesn’t look good.”

 

The paramedics helped Lena into the back of the ambulance and pulled away from the warehouse.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

Earlier that day

 

 

Kara had been staring at her phone for close to an hour, switching between social media accounts and trying not to open Lena’s message. She was worried. She hadn’t known Lena for too long but she truly didn’t believe Lena had anything to do with whatever Lillian and Lex Luthor were up to. But that didn’t explain why she was missing. Was she actually missing? Kara was sure that any minute now Lena was going to call her and have a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she didn’t show up to the station yesterday. She just knew it. Any minute now. She was staring at their messages again and huffed. She slammed her phone down on the couch next to her and picked up her tv remote.The tv flickered to life and Lex Luthor’s face was plastered across the screen. The caption read **Lex Luthor Escapes Prison**.

 

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Kara mumbled to herself as she picked up her phone and called Alex.

 

“Alex! What happened?”

 

**“We don’t know yet, the CO went to do count and Lex wasn’t in his cell. We have no idea how he escaped.”**

 

Kara sucked air through her teeth like she was in pain all of a sudden. 

 

“Ow, ow, ow.”

 

**“Kara? Kara what happened, are you okay?”** Alex asked.

 

“I think so? I don’t know. My wrist started burning really bad and it feels like someone just took a hammer to my temple,” Kara answered while grimacing in pain. Alex was quiet for a moment.

 

**“Kara, is it your wrist or your mark?”**

 

“It’s my mark. It burns like hell. It’s never done this before.”

 

**“Remember when Dad broke his ankle playing football and Mom literally fell over on the sidelines because hers hurt too?”**

 

“Are you saying you think Lena’s hurt?”

 

**“I don’t know but I think it might be possible. Has she texted again? Or called?”**

 

“No. I’m gonna call her again.” 

 

“Okay just let me know.”

 

Kara squeezed her eyes closed tightly, trying to push through the pain radiating from her head and her wrist. She peaked through one eye to find Lena’s name and pressed call. It rang only once before connecting.

 

“Lena! Are you okay?” Kara asked into the phone but to no response. There was just a rustling noise. 

 

“Lena!” she called again. Just more rustling answered her. She stayed quiet for a few moments, straining her ears to try and hear anything on the other end of the line.

 

“-stupid fucking bitch. You’re fucking lucky your brother wants you alive,” a man’s voice grumbled. Kara’s eyes widened. She put her phone on speaker and texted Alex.

 

**Kara: [6:15pm]** Alex sos someone has Lena’s phone. It answered but they don’t know I’m on the phone. What do I do

 

Alex answered almost immediately.

 

**Alex: [6:15pm]** don’t hang up, I’ll be there soon

 

Kara put her phone on mute and prayed to every god that whoever was on the other line didn’t notice the phone was connected. She heard more rustling and then the scratching of a radio being put in tune.

 

Alex showed up not even 10 minutes later with two other agents and they got to work on trying to trace the call. It took a few minutes but they were able to triangulate Lena’s cell within a three block radius. 

 

“That’s the warehouse district. There’s at least 7 different warehouses within that radius.” Alex called in the location and spoke with her supervisor. 

 

“We’re gonna find her Kara,” Alex said placing her hand on Kara’s. Kara winced, her mark was still burning. 

 

“Please. Please find her, Alex. She’s hurt. Please save her,” Kara begged, her eyes filling with tears. Alex pulled her into a hug. 

 

“I’ll find her. I promise.”


	12. Kara’s A Rambling Cute Idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright y’all. I’m thinking 1 maybe 2 more chapters left in this story. I want to thank all of y’all for reading commenting and leaving kudos. The support I’ve gotten while writing this has blown me away. This chapter is on the shorter end but the next one is a behemoth, so hopefully this will tie you over until I finish that one. If you have any questions or you just wanna say hi, you can find me on Twitter @sqevilpanda 
> 
> Enjoy!

Kara had never been a fan of hospitals. The night her parents died, she was brought to the hospital because she had gone into shock after watching her entire life burn to ashes. After that life-altering event, she avoided hospitals at all costs. Until today, it had been almost five years since she had even stepped foot in one.

 

Hovering at the nurses station, she tried ignoring the smell. The sterile, clean smell brought back memories that she didn’t really want to think about. 

 

She glimpsed Lena in the hospital bed through the blinds of the private room. Alex and another agent were talking to Lena, probably getting a full statement. Kara rubbed her mark, the burning sensation having dulled to almost nothing now. In the last 24 hours, she had gone through a variety of emotions, the most prominent one was worry. She was worried she would never see Lena again, worried that she wouldn’t be able to tell her that she wanted to try this whole soulmate thing. The realization that life is so precious and fragile hit her like a truck. She didn’t want to waste anymore time with uncertainties.

 

Alex exited Lena’s room, smiling up at Kara.

 

“Hey there,” Alex greeted her with a soft smile. “She knows you’re out here, she wants you to go in.” Alex started to walk away but was stopped by Kara grabbing her arm, turning her around and pulling her into a tight hug.

 

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Kara whispered into Alex’s hair, her voice tight with emotion. 

 

“Always. Now get, go get your girl,” Alex responded, smiling and waving Kara off.

 

Kara walked up to the door, knocked once and cracked it to put her head in the room. 

 

“Knock, knock. Can I come in?” she asked grinning at Lena. 

 

“Please,” Lena answered. Kara walked in, fiddling with her glasses and timidly looking at Lena. “I heard you were quite the _savior_ today.”

 

Kara scuffed her shoe on the ground. “Did Alex tell you how she found you?”

 

“She said that you called my phone and that idiot Corben answered it. She mentioned you were feeling something though? Before you called?” Lena looked at her questioningly.

 

“Yeah- uh, I guess I felt this happen.” Kara had walked to the side of the bed and reached her hand to brush back the hair covering the bandage on Lena’s temple. “All of a sudden it just felt like someone had hit my head with a hammer. And then my mark started burning.” She looked down at the words on her wrist. “I’ve heard of people’s bonds being strong enough to know what the other was feeling but that was the first time I had ever experienced it. At least I think so. Unless every headache I’ve ever gotten was because of you,” Kara said in a playful tone trying to lighten the conversation.

 

Lena rolled her eyes. “I want to thank you. Without you, who knows what would’ve happened to me. Lex is unstable, and I’m pretty certain he was going to kill me. He was going to try to frame me at least. Make people think I’m just another Luthor.” Lena’s gaze dropped to her hands that were clasped in her lap.

 

“Hey, hey, no. I, for one, would never believe that you were capable of hurting anyone. You’re too... _good_ ,” Kara said earnestly. Lena smiled up at her. “How long are they keeping you here?”

 

“Well if I had things my way, I’d be gone already. They want to keep me overnight for observation. They told me I was dehydrated and have a mild concussion from..” she trailed off, her hand going up to her hairline. “So, as long as everything’s fine, and I already know it is, I’ll be released tomorrow morning.”

 

Kara inhaled deeply, steeling herself in preparation for what was about to come out of her mouth.

 

“Do you think, well um, I know I said I want to be friends but I was so scared when I didn’t know if you were alright or where you were and I’ve been thinking a lot about not wasting anymore time and I just really was wondering if you wanted to get dinner. When you’re better. Not as friends. Well I mean we are friends but I was seeing if maybe we could go as like, more than friends? I know you’ll need time and stuff and you can have as much time as you need to get better and-“

 

“Kara.”

 

“-I probably should have waited until you were better to ask but going back to the wasting time I just really needed to ask-“

 

“Kara,” Lena said a bit more firmly to get her attention.

 

“-before I lost the nerve. What?”

 

“Yes,” Lena smiled at Kara’s adorable rambling.

 

“Yes?” Kara asked, hopeful.

 

“Of course yes, you adorable idiot,” Lena responded. She grabbed Kara’s hands that had been twisting around each other and pulled her a bit closer. “It’s a date.”

 

The whole room seemed to brighten with the way Kara was smiling at Lena. Her blue eyes wide and searching Lena’s face to make sure she was serious.

 

“I’m sorry for making you wait,” Kara stated apologetically.

 

“Nonsense, I wanted you to be sure before jumping into this. I’ve known from the moment I met you, you were going to change my entire world. I don’t mind that it took you some time to give me a chance at changing yours.” 

 

A nurse knocked at the door and smiled at the sight of Lena and Kara looking adoringly at each other. 

 

“Miss Luthor, visiting hours are about to end,” the nurse informed them regretfully.

 

“That’s my cue, I guess. I’m so happy you’re okay. I couldn’t imagine what would-“

 

“And you won’t have to, and you can thank yourself and Alex for that,” Lena interrupted firmly.

 

“Will you text me?” Kara asked.

 

“The police have my phone, and these nurses keep insisting I sleep,” Lena replied looking pointedly at the nurse in the corner.

 

“Yeah, of course. Do you need a ride in the morning?” 

 

She didn’t, Sam was going to pick her up but she wanted to see Kara tomorrow.

 

“If you’re offering, I won’t say no to a ride,” Lena replied.

 

“Okie dokie, I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” Kara leaned down and hugged Lena. The angle was awkward but before pulling away Kara placed a kiss on Lena’s cheek, lingering for a second past what would be appropriate of a friend. “Goodnight, Lena.”

 

“Goodnight, Kara. And thank you again.”

 


	13. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its my birthday, so like as a present to myself I finished this story. This is it. The last chapter. I might do an epilogue, I’m not sure yet. This was a wild ride. As always thank you for reading leaving kudos and all the comments. You guys are truly wonderful.

The next couple of days were nonstop for Lena. Between catching up with work matters (Sam was a godsend for keeping everything from completely falling apart), speaking to her lawyers about testifying once again, speaking to police and FBI, and dodging the influx of news reporters and paparazzi, Lena needed a break. 

 

It was nearing 11pm when she drug herself through her apartment door, poured a considerable amount of wine in a glass and all but flopped onto her couch. Her body was exhausted, aching in every joint and yet her mind still wouldn’t quiet. Taking a sip from her wine glass, she pulled out her new phone(FBI still had her old one), ignored the emails that were still clogging up her phone, and found Kara’s contact.

 

Lena: [11:06pm] sorry if you aren’t up still. I wanted to confirm our dinner, find out if you’re still up for it?

 

Lena sent off the text, hopeful that Kara hadn’t changed her mind about a date. If she hadn’t, Lena needed to suggest going somewhere out of town. She didn’t need Kara getting caught up in anymore of her family’s drama, and she definitely didn’t want Kara being followed by fellow reporters. After a few moments Lena’s phone vibrated.

 

Kara: [11:13pm] hey! I’m up, was in the shower. I’m absolutely still down for dinner. What day is good for you?

 

Lena’s traitorous mind focused on the fact that Kara was in the shower. She imagined little droplets of water rolling down the column of Kara’s neck, disappearing into a towel that Kara wrapped around her body and toned arms glistening with water. She physically shivered at the images swirling in her mind before scolding herself. Pull yourself together, you are not a teenage boy.

 

Lena: [11:14pm] tomorrow? Also do you think we could go out of the city? The reporters have been tailing me nonstop, and I don’t want you to be exposed to that drama.

 

Kara: [11:16pm] tomorrow sounds great. And if it’s not too forward how about I cook at my place for us? The only reporter in my place is me :)

 

Lena: [11:17pm] no that’s perfect. You’re the only reporter I want to be around these days anyways ;) I do hope you can cook

 

Kara: [11:18pm] pssssssshhhh prepare to have your mind blown, food is my favorite, so of course I know how to make some bomb ass food. You’re never going to want anyone else to cook for you again, nothing will ever compare.

 

Lena: [11:20pm] my, my. With confidence like that, I’m sure I’ll be blown away. What time tomorrow?

 

Kara: [11:20pm] my confidence is never misplaced. is 8 okay?

 

Lena: [11:21pm] 8 is perfect. See you tomorrow.

 

Kara: [11:22pm] Goodnight :*

 

Lena smiled at the kiss emoji and was brought back to a few days before when Kara had kissed her cheek at the hospital, too close to her mouth and too long for it to be friendly. That night in the hospital, the few hours of sleep she had gotten were peppered with dreams of Kara’s lips, them kissing, and flashes of NSFW scenes starring Kara. It made for a flustered ride home, with Lena blushing the entire time.

 

Lena put her wine glass in the sink, turned off the lights in her apartment and went to her bedroom to catch a few hours of sleep, excitement for tomorrow warming her whole body.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

“Alex, I’m freaking out,” Kara said to her sister while she was taking the chicken off the stovetop. “It’s almost 8 and I’m not finished with dinner, and I still have to change and Lena’s gonna come in looking like an entire goddess and I think I have raw chicken in my hair and this was just a horrible idea. Why would I do this to myself-“

 

“Kara, shut up. Here, let me finish this, go get changed, clean yourself up. You still have a half hour before Lena gets here. Everything’s gonna be just fine, just chill the hell out,” Alex responded exasperatedly, taking the skillet out of Kara’s hand. “This looks amazing, I’m sure it will taste just as good. I’m going to plate it up, set the table, and get out of here.”

 

“Alex,” Kara whined. “What if this goes badly? What if she hates it?”

 

“She’s not going to hate it and I’m not gonna tell you to shut up and get dressed again,” Alex said firmly, swatting Kara away.

 

As she stepped into her room, another of her concerns became forefront: she didn’t have a damn thing to wear. Lena had seen her in her work clothes and she wanted to look a little nicer tonight. Still panicking, she started rifling through her closet looking at each of the dresses she had hanging up in contempt. Her eyes landed on a tight navy dress that was in the back. It was low cut, with spaghetti straps, hugged her curves tightly and came up to mid thigh. 

 

“Perfect,” she whispered to herself, pulling it on. She went to the vanity, applied light makeup and fixed her hair into a side braid. Thankfully there wasn’t any raw chicken in it. She was slipping on her white flats when her doorbell rang.

 

She glanced at the dining room table that Alex had set up before she left, the food set up with a single candle lit in the middle of the table. Rushing to answer the door, she stumbled when she kicked a side table letting out a high pitched squeak at the pain in her pinky toe.

 

She opened the door to Lena’s amused face. 

 

“I stubbed my toe,” Kara said in lieu of a greeting.

 

Lena held back a chuckle. “Are you alright?”

 

Kara glanced down to see that Lena was wearing the tightest dress that anyone could possibly wear. It was solid black, the sleeves were off the shoulder, and it was very low cut. Kara snapped her eyes back up to Lena’s face when she realized she was sort of staring at Lena’s chest.

 

“Uh-yeah, yeah I’m fine. You look- wow, you look amazing,” Kara stammered our, her face burning up.

 

“Thank you, you clean up nicely yourself,” Lena said, holding up a two bottles of wine. “I didn’t know if I should bring red or white so I brought both.” Kara widened the door so Lena could come in. “Wow, this looks delicious, chicken marsala?” she asked while looking at the dining room table.

 

Kara grabbed the wine out of Lena’s hands. “Yeah, it will go perfectly with this Chardonnay.” Kara poured them both a glass, setting them on the table, and pulled out the chair for Lena, ever the gentlewoman. 

 

After Kara sat down opposite of Lena, Lena picked up her fork and speared a piece of chicken on it.

 

“If it’s horrible, don’t tell me. Let me keep believing I’m this wonderful chef and I missed my chance when I chose journalism over culinary,” Kara said playfully. Kara watched as Lena leaned forward and put the fork between her lips. The moan she made after, sent heat straight to Kara’s face. Kara had to look away.

 

“Oh my goodness. This is fantastic. So the confidence is well deserved, you probably wouldn’t even have to go to culinary school,” Lena stated, her eyes closed in bliss. Kara smiled brightly.

 

The conversation flowed smoothly for the rest of dinner. When both women were finished with their meal, Lena sat back in the chair with a pleased little sigh.

 

“What’s for dessert?” Lena asked cocking an eyebrow up. Kara’s face fell.

 

“Oh, no I forgot about dessert. Hold on I think I have ice cream, just give me a second.” Kara was halfway to the freezer when she felt a hand on her arm.

 

“It’s okay, I don’t think I could actually eat anymore,” Lena said turning Kara around and peering up at her. She ran her hand up Kara’s arm, up her shoulder and played with the small hairs at the base of Kara’s neck. “Plus, I can think of something a bit sweeter than ice cream,” she continued leaning her face up towards Kara’s, her eyes staring at Kara’s lips. They were a breath apart when Kara pulled back.

 

“Can I show you something?” Kara said, just above a whisper. Lena tried to tamp down the disappointment that flooded her chest. She stepped back from Kara, and went to pull her hands away but Kara grabbed them before they reached her side. Kara intertwined their hands.

 

“Yes, of course,” Lena replied and Kara led her to a large window in her living room. There was a fire escape just outside. Kara let go of Lena’s hand, opened the window, climbed out and held her hand back inside. 

 

“Do you trust me?” Kara asked earnestly.

 

Lena bit her lip, she didn’t like heights but Kara made her feel safe.

 

“Absolutely,” Lena answered grabbing Kara’s offered hand and stepping out onto the fire escape. They climbed to the top, Lena struggling not to look down, keep her dress from blowing up, and keep her hand tightly in Kara’s. They reached the top, which led to the roof of Kara’s apartment building. There were fairy lights twinkling above a small rooftop garden. 

 

“This isn’t my garden, but I like to come up here to think sometimes. It’s the quietest place in the city I’ve found so far,” Kara admitted. The noises from the street were still there but no where near as loud. It was peaceful. “This place, I don’t know, it’s like, special to me. And I really wanted you to see it.” Kara was looking at Lena almost hesitantly, waiting for her to approve of her “secret spot”.

 

“Kara, this is beautiful,” Lena said in awe. 

 

“I know. And I kind of brought you up here because of what I thought was about to happen in the kitchen was going to happen, I wanted to do it here,” Kara said just above a whisper. 

 

She pulled Lena closer, wrapping her arms around her waist. She glanced down at Lena’s lips and then back up, silently asking for permission. Lena gave a small nod and leaned up. Their lips met in a slow, yet unyielding and firm kiss. Lena’s lips were unbelievably soft. Kara had heard of feeling fireworks, but she never knew it could be like this. The kiss felt like puzzle piece slotting perfectly in to finish the puzzle, it felt like everything about Kara and Lena were perfectly aligned. 

 

Their mouths moved against another, and just when Kara didn’t think it could get any better, Lena opened her mouth and ran her tongue along Kara’s bottom lip. Lena’s hands were tangling through Kara’s hair pulling her impossibly closer. They stood, lost in their bubble, making out for a few minutes. When breathing started to become an issue, Kara drew back a bit to take in a breath. 

 

“Was that okay?” Kara asked.

 

“More than,” Lena whispered back. “I’ve wanted to do that for quite some time now.”

 

“Lena, you’re the closest thing this world has to offer to perfect. I want you to know that I want this. I want you. I want us. And not because of the marks on our arms, but because you, Lena Luthor, are the most kind, funny, thoughtful, amazing person I have ever met. So how about it? Do you want this?”

 

“More than anything else in this insane world,” Lena answered leaning back in to kiss Kara again.

 

 

 


End file.
